Tuesday, May 08, 2007

One of the first thing troops notice when they come home from Iraq and Afghanistan is how detached the homefront is. Few families contribute most of the fighting men and women. Do the rest of us really know a war is going on?

Not by past measuring sticks. In other wars, the homefront had it's share of hardships: rationing, higher prices, tax hikes to pay for the war.

But the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are about to come in as the second most expensive war in US history -- right behind World War II. Thing is, the economy is bigger, so the amount of total wealth we're spending on war isn't noticeable to a noticeable number of Americans. It's only a little over 4% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) -- less than half the share of Vietnam's cost.

The Washington Post added up the costs of past wars, adjusted to 2007 dollars:

WW II: $3.2 trillion, 37.8% of GDP

Iraq/Afghanistan: $754 billion, 4.2% of GDP

Korea: $691 billion, 14.2% of GDP

Vietnam: $650 billion, 9.4% of GDP

WW I: $364 billion

Civil War: $81 billion

Spanish-American War: $7 billion

American Revolution: $4 billion

Mexican War: $2 billion

War of 1812: $1 billion

The problem you run into with relatively little hardship on the homefront is there's relatively little pressure from the people to push for an end to the war. Pressure in past wars forced politicians into timelines and benchmarks, to win a war -- or really accomplish a mission -- before the people got fed up.

Ultimately, politicians are more interested in winning re-election than winning any war.

Since the Civil War, the US military has operated on the idea of speedy victories. Without the pressure for that on politicians -- the politicians are willing to take the wind out of the military's sails and let a war linger.

The longer that goes on, the more resistance can build up in places like Vietnam and Iraq, and the harder it becomes to end with a win. (WaPo)

About Me

Terry "Tex" Turner spent 7 years covering Washington for 100 client television stations across the United States.
Since then, he has been a webcasting & social media pioneer with a record of expanding audiences, market share, and audience loyalty.